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M. Hartner-Tiefenthaler, S. Clarke, L Holdsworth:
"Empowering leaders and proactive employees: The key to success for flexible work teams?";
Talk: Academy of Management (AOM) Meeting, Philadelphia; 2018-08; in: "AOM Annual Meeting Proceedings 2018", Academy of Management Proceedings, 1 (2018).

Opportunities for flexible working have become increasingly available for employees. Flexible working arrangements (FWAs) involve employees having a degree of choice about where, when and for how long they work, and can take a variety of forms (e.g., time flexibility, location flexibility, control over work schedules, and reduced-load working). There are particular challenges for leaders, as teams may comprise individuals with differing FWAs, meaning that team leaders must adapt their leadership style to promote effective team performance. We develop theory in the area of leadership and flexible work teams using a qualitative study, based on iterative textual analysis of 69 interviews across five organisations, with varying degrees and types of flexibility. A model of leadership in flexible work teams was developed based on our findings. We found that both empowering and directive leadership had a significant influence on employees´ work behaviors, but only empowering leader behaviors were associated with employee proactivity. In the findings, there were many examples of employees´ adaptive work behaviors, which appeared to play an important role in flexible working environments. In addition, the identification of key antecedents of leadership behaviors in a flexible working environment extends our understanding of effective FWAs. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2018.16517abstract